webOS Ports: Help Wanted

The webOS community may be a bit smaller these days but it’s no less devoted to the platform. And it’s that community that is rallying behind us here at webOS Ports. Thanks to your direct support, our team has grown from just 5 members at release to over 12 with more on the way. As you can imagine, leading up to the initial release the team was a bit overwhelmed with the details of creating an entire operating system. Now that we have a few more folks directly developing for LuneOS, things are starting to come together. But we still need your help.

As nice as it is to have the additional folks contributing, developing, and working issues, we still need more developers to get involved to make this community project really take off.

“Our focus is core functionality”

We cannot stress enough that we are building an OS focused on core app integration that is simple, beautiful, and user-centric. Right now, function comes first. If we had a penny for every developer that knew some web code and could make a beautiful static mock-up of an app that didn’t do a thing in the backend and then said “I did my part, it’s up to you to make it work”…well, we’d have a lot of pennies.

Developer requirements

Once core app integration happens we will need HTML/CSS smart people BUT to be an asset to the team as a developer NOW these technologies are what we need folks to have a good grasp on any or all of these:

Javascript

C

node.js

C++

QML

Qt

Are you decent at some of these but might need help from time to time? That’s ok! We’re a community, remember? Hit up the IRC channel and ask!

Get the bugs out!

We have several applications already available but many are placeholders. Some of the apps are almost fully functional like Settings. But even Settings has bugs. Ok there are bugs everywhere! (If only it were as easy as a can of Raid to fix them)! We’ve received lots of questions about how to get plugged into the project quickly. Easy! Head over to our bug tracker to see current issues. Find an area where you think you can help and then find us on IRC (see below) to talk about it.

Some examples of areas that need bug fixing are:

Email: bug fixes, better integration with Contacts, Calendar, etc

Settings: Add Settings when needed

Phone: features/calls

Calendar: needs integration

Contacts: edit, add, and search functions need added/work

Browser: Authentication issues

File Manager: various issues that need attention

And more.

Core Apps/Features/Backend magic

The Open webOS project released several core applications that were Enyo1 based. Some of those apps are in LuneOS and need updated to Enyo2. For instance, Contacts and Calendar have already been updated to Enyo2 but need quite a bit of work to be fully functional and integrated into the OS.

Messaging stills needs Synergy connection and quite a bit of work.

The Phone app is there but doesn’t have telephony functionality yet.

PDF needs converted to QML since doing it in webkit really hurts its performance.

LuneOS also needs a media player.

The C+Dav connector is there but needs some UI beautification in the Credentials Check area (especially Google OAuth). It also needs testing for other providers.

Preware is missing feed management, needs its settings overhauled, and the UI isn’t great on phones yet.

And more.

Looks aren’t everything

As you can see, to really make stuff work first, most of what we need is in the backend. It’s the old battle between form and function. Which comes first? Designers will argue form! But Ports is focused on the core functionality that has to work first and look pretty later. It’s a hard pill to swallow and we get that, but when building an OS, it’s the most important thing. If it looks pretty but doesn’t work, the project loses potential users from bad press. If it works but doesn’t look pretty it will at least show promise and that encourages positive feedback. And with a community led project, if you don’t have good feedback you’ve already lost.

Additional help wanted

Ports is looking to expand our public relations presence. If you are located outside of the United States or more specifically speak a different language than English and would like to help us advertise and direct interested people toward LuneOS and webOS Ports, please let us know.

We are also looking for a WordPress “expert” for a new site we’ll be setting up soon. Are you good at making tutorials?

We have several “how to install LuneOS guides” on the wiki. If you’d like to make more colorful and user friendly guides, that’d be great! I’m sure we could get them posted right here on pivotCE. We know people. 😉

And finally, we need a “wiki-meister”. Someone that really knows the ins and outs of running a mediawiki!

Get involved

Everyone can help in some way. We need testers and bug reports! Sign up on the webOS-Ports Bug Tracker, contact us to let us know that you signed up and what your username is, and we’ll upgrade your account so you can post issues.

Developers please join us on the Mailing List and drop by the IRC chnanel